Conference: The EU and the promise of democracy: What can Citizenship Education and Civil Society contribute? | The Hague (Netherlands)

This year's NECE Conference will discuss questions concerning the further development and reshaping of the EU, which can only be a success if it is based on democratic participation and the effective involvement of the civil society.

This will have consequences for citizenship education in Europe as it means critical testing and reflection for European policy campaigns, discourses and projects in the face of crisis. With an eye to the elections to the European Parliament in May 2014, NECE 2013 will continue to explore the topics of participation and democratisation and focus on the EU's democratic deficit. However, deploring the democratic deficit in the EU is one thing. Citizenship education, on the other hand, must critically examine its European policy campaigns and projects in terms of their coverage and effectiveness. And it should concentrate more on the criticism and doubt of frustrated European citizens.

The conference in The Hague will offer opportunities for a critical debate at four levels:

1. Scenarios and outlines for the future of the EU

2. European civil society and the 'democratic deficit' of the European Union

3. Role of citizenship education during the European crisis

4. Practical approaches and projects of citizenship education The NECE Initiative invites education specialists, activists from social movements and multipliers from the fields of politics and business to The Hague to discuss and debate the new common responsibilities for citizenship education and civil society in the EU.

The conference will be held in English without any simultaneous translation. The results from the NECE Conference will be documented at the www.nece.eu website.